Dugu Bo looked at Fang Xuan with a trace of admiration in his eyes. The other boy's thinking was exceptionally meticulous, and his logic was crystal clear.
Just as Fang Xuan had said, Dugu Bo had investigated some things. He hadn't learned every detail, but what he'd found was more or less exactly as Fang Xuan had described.
Fang Xuan really was an orphan, and he really had been taken in by an old medicine peddler. The old man had also died from snake venom. Fang Xuan hadn't lied to him.
"Tell me about your Bone-Scraping Poison Treatment. I won't take advantage of you. As long as your method works, name whatever benefits you want, as long as I can provide them."
"The only condition is that you don't cross my bottom line."
Dugu Bo didn't say where that bottom line lay. It was a little trap he was setting for Fang Xuan.
But while he was laying a trap for Fang Xuan, wasn't Fang Xuan laying one for him, too?
After all, this was exactly what Fang Xuan had been waiting to hear. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have had a good reason to get Dugu Bo to take him to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
"Since you've put it that way, Senior, I won't stand on ceremony."
"I heard Miss Yan mention that you have a medicinal garden. If possible, I'd like you to take me there to look for a few herbs."
Dugu Bo was stunned. Good grief, he'd only just offered the boy some benefits, and Fang Xuan had immediately asked for something. The kid had come prepared!
"Why does that girl Yanyan have to go around blabbing everything? She's practically spilled all her grandfather's secrets."
There was nothing Dugu Bo could do about Dugu Yan. She was his only grandchild, after all.
"Fine, but only if your method works."
Fang Xuan's request wasn't unreasonable. There was no harm in taking him there.
Besides, Dugu Bo had already guessed why Fang Xuan wanted to look for herbs. To put it simply, he wanted to resolve the Ye Family's Martial Soul defect.
"What a devoted young man. A pity he can't be my granddaughter's husband."
Dugu Bo sighed inwardly. Ever since meeting Fang Xuan, how could he possibly think much of that boy Yu Tianheng?
If his granddaughter didn't like Yu Tianheng, and the boy hadn't done anything wrong, Dugu Bo wouldn't go so far as to break them up.
Come to think of it, Fang Xuan was technically his disciple now, wasn't he?
They said a disciple was half a son. If Fang Xuan couldn't become his grandson-in-law, having him as a godson wasn't bad either.
That thought made Dugu Bo feel much better.
"No problem. We can start right now."
"Already? Don't you need to prepare anything?"
Seeing Fang Xuan get ready to begin at once caught Dugu Bo completely off guard.
"Prepare? Just get me a few silver needles. I don't need anything else."
"But I should make this clear first: this is my first time doing this, so I can't guarantee a hundred percent success."
Fang Xuan first laid out the risks. He'd never done this before, after all. A minor mishap was certainly possible.
At most, he could promise that Dugu Bo wouldn't suffer any major problems. Everything else would depend on how things went.
"What? You're treating me like a test subject?!"
"Don't put it so harshly. I'm just stating an objective fact. I've never encountered a Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul before. Where am I supposed to get experience?"
"If I told you I could cure you with a hundred percent success rate, would you believe me?"
"If you really can't accept that, call your granddaughter over. I can try it on her instead."
Dugu Bo immediately backed down at those words.
"No, I'll do it. These old bones of mine are still sturdy enough to withstand your experiments."
Fang Xuan had struck right at Dugu Bo's weak spot. The old man promptly admitted defeat.
"Don't say I'm setting you up. Eat this, and I guarantee you'll be fine."
As Fang Xuan spoke, Soul Rings appeared behind him. His fifth Soul Ring lit up, and a drop of deep green liquid materialized in his hand.
"This is... your Soul Skill? Such a dense aura of life."
Dugu Bo stared at the Life Dew in Fang Xuan's hand, looking it up and down like a curious child.
"By the way, what was your Martial Soul again? A seed... it grows into a plant after seven days, and then...?"
Dugu Bo had never seen Fang Xuan use his Martial Soul, but he'd heard about it from Dugu Yan.
He'd never encountered such a strange Martial Soul before, but that was only to be expected.
After all, Martial Souls were countless and varied across the Douluo Continent. It wasn't particularly rare for some bizarre ones to appear.
Take the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, for example. It seemed that old fool Yu Yuanzhen had a son who'd awakened a dog that could only fart. What was his name again? Yu Xiaogang, was it?
At the thought, an Evil plan instantly sprang into Dugu Bo's mind.
"Old Thunder Dragon, you dared to let your grandson court my granddaughter. Don't blame me for hitting you where it hurts."
Everyone knew Dugu Bo doted on his granddaughter. Even though Yu Tianheng was a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Dugu Bo might not have thought much of him.
If Yu Tianheng had been the only one involved, that would have been one thing. He was a junior, so Dugu Bo couldn't exactly deal him a vicious blow.
But Yu Yuanzhen was another matter. He thought he could marry Dugu Bo's granddaughter just by offering a Soul Bone as the betrothal gift. What a sweet dream.
Dugu Bo couldn't beat Yu Yuanzhen, but that didn't mean he couldn't play dirty.
Fang Xuan, standing nearby, had no idea what Dugu Bo was thinking. He only felt that the old man's grin was a little creepy.
His instincts told him that Dugu Bo was up to no good, though it didn't seem to be aimed at him. Could it be...
Fang Xuan's mouth twitched. It looked like Yu Tianheng was in for a world of trouble.
Things went exceptionally smoothly after that. Once he'd swallowed the Life Dew, Dugu Bo felt refreshed from head to toe.
Its powerful life force was the perfect tonic, repairing some of the damage he'd sustained over the years while fighting the poison.
He hadn't experienced that unprecedented feeling of relief in many years.
As the silver needles pierced his skin, Fang Xuan sent his Soul Power into Dugu Bo's body. Then he had Dugu Bo guide the flow of the poison within him toward his Soul Bone.
At first, the progress was slow, like a snail crawling. There was far more accumulated poison in Dugu Bo's body than Fang Xuan had imagined.
It had practically engulfed his entire body. In Fang Xuan's eyes, Dugu Bo was now nothing less than a walking human poison vault.
The poison was as viscous as glue. Moving even a tiny amount took immense effort.
After struggling for ages, they'd only managed to remove a bit about the size of a fingernail.
Even so, Dugu Bo was overjoyed. He'd never succeeded before—not even in removing a strand of hair's worth of poison, let alone a fingernail-sized amount.
At last, the extracted poison traveled through his meridians to the place where his Soul Bone was located. Dugu Bo then used his Soul Power to force it onto a silver needle and draw it out of his body.
Looking at the poison clinging to the needle, Fang Xuan couldn't help swallowing.
"No wonder it's known as the most potent poison on the continent. It really is terrifying."
Jade Scale Snake Poison was incredibly toxic, especially the years-old poison inside Dugu Bo. Its potency was far beyond anything ordinary.
"Hahaha, it really works! You've done well, boy. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."
"Come on. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll take you to the medicinal garden right now. Take whatever herbs you want—there's plenty."
Before Fang Xuan could react, Dugu Bo grabbed him and dragged him away.